1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein relates to a feeder for feeding small birds and particularly a feeder having multiple perches for simultaneously feeding small seeds to a plurality of small birds.
2. Description of Related Art
The invention herein is of a type that, in other embodiments, has been used for feeding small birds. The feeder herein is particularly applied to feeding finches and birds similar to the finch species and the feeder is most particularly applied to feeding small diameter seeds such as thistle seed, a type of natural food to which finches and similar birds are attracted.
Others have provided vertical tubular feeders having a plurality of perches with a seed dispensing hole above each perch and in which the tubular feeder has a cap that can be removed for filling an upper open end of the tubular bird feeder. The typical tubular multiple perch bird feeder in present use requires that the top cap be secured to the tubular body by which the tubular body and the seeds contained therein is supported, a support rope or wire being attached to the removable top cap. A problem with existing bird feeders of this type is that seeds are refilled from the top. This means that the older seeds remain in the lower portion of the feeder. When the feeder is subjected to rain and/or snow, water can enter the feeder to cause deterioration of the seeds in the feeder. The deteriorated seeds tend to remain in the bottom portion of the feeder and wet seeds can develop bacteria that can be harmful to birds.
The present invention overcomes the problem with existing tubular multiple perch feeders for small birds by providing a feeder that can easily be filled from the bottom so that the remaining seeds in the feeder are always in the upper portion of the feeder and therefore seeds do not tend to remain for long periods of time within the feeder. The seeds are consumed from the top down meaning that the older seeds are first consumed, thus eliminating the problem of old, wet, molded or deteriorated and possibly bacteria-infested seeds remaining in the feeder.
For background information to bird feeders, the general type to which this invention pertains, reference can be had to the following previously issued United States Patents:
PATENT NO. INVENTOR TITLE 1,891,042 Benoit Chicken Feeder 2,306,312 Hyde Bird Feeding Device 2,944,516 Malloy, Sr. Bird Feeder 3,083,687 Slaven Bird Feeder 3,977,363 Fisher, Jr. Bird Feeder 4,917,050 Clarke Birdfeeder 5,195,463 Lorenzana et al. Bird Baths and Combination Hanging and Pedestal Mountings Therefor